Joy: God's Gateway to Fun

How are you?

It's good to have you at Gateway this morning.

I'm Brady Boyd.

I'm part of the pastoral team here.

And I'll be speaking this morning.

We're wrapping up.

This is week 20 of our Elevate series, so it's good to be with you.

I want you to turn to two places in your Bible, to James chapter 1 and Psalms 43.

James 1 · chapter mention

And the title of my message this morning is Joy, God's Gateway to Fun.

You know, all of us are looking for some fun, looking for a place to have fun.

Life's no good unless you're having fun, by the way.

I hope you are planning some time for having fun.

I want to tell you a story about a guy who had a plan for fun that didn't go so well.

It's a true story.

I'm not going to change the names because no one in this story is innocent.

This guy's name is Larry.

This happened, the true story happened in 1998.

Larry was a young boy.

When he grew up as a young boy, all Larry wanted to do was to be a pilot.

He wanted to fly planes.

In fact, when he grew up, the house that he grew up in was near LAX Airport.

And so every day he was in his backyard, he would watch planes land and take off, land and take off, and he would just look up at him and say, one day I'm going to be a pilot.

So when he got out of high school, he went to the Air Force.

And when he got to the Air Force, he realized through some tests that his eyesight was not good enough for him to be a pilot.

And he went into a deep depression.

He finished the Air Force and he moved back to LA and actually bought a home of his own near LAX airport so that in the afternoons after work he could watch the planes take off and land at LAX, which is one of the busiest airports in the world.

Well, one day he got a great idea, supposedly.

He went, he and he and a group of friends went and bought 45 helium weather balloons from an Army surplus store.

They're pretty good size, they're big.

You can see them when they're up in the air, so they're big balloons.

And he filled them up with helium and he strapped them to a lawn chair that he had bought at Sears and he dubbed that Inspiration One.

He had them all strapped on there, filled with helium, and it was tied to the ground.

He made a homemade harness to keep him in.

And he brought on board with him a cooler with a six-pack of Miller Light, two sandwiches, and a pellet gun.

Now, his plan was for his friends to cut those cords, and he was going to drift up about a hundred feet, and then he was going to eat his sandwiches.

He was going to drink his six-pack of Miller Light.

How many of you believe that possibly he'd already had a few before he got this idea?

So he is, he's sitting in his lawn chair, they cut the cords, and he not he doesn't drift up a hundred feet.

He shoots up immediately to 1,000 feet, to 5,000 feet, and topped out at 16,000 feet for 14 hours.

He drifted at 16,000 feet in the flight path of LAX.

Delta and American Airline pilots begin to radio in.

They said, We just saw a guy sitting in a lawn chair, eating sandwiches, with a Miller light in his hand, and he has a pellet gun.

He set a world's record, by the way, for the longest sustained flight at that distance in that altitude without oxygen.

Well, he realized after 14 hours in flight that he's either going to die of hypothermia, because it's cold, by the way, at 16,000 feet, and the Miller light didn't help.

And so he's cold and he realizes if he shoots the balloons that he might topple over and fall to his death, but he had no other plan at this point.

So he shoots a couple balloons and he realizes that he can keep it steady.

He starts shooting balloons and he drifts down.

Well, every time he shoots a balloon, the rope that held the balloon falls to the side.

And they get tangled up.

As he drifts down near Long Beach, California, the ropes that were holding him up begin to tangle up in some Highline wires.

He ends up face hanging off these Highline wires in 20,000 homes in Long Beach, California without power.

All because Larry wanted to have some fun one day.

Well, the police and all the news media arrived, they get him untangled, they drag him down out of the Highline wires, and they are arresting him in the and the and the press asked, you know, why, Larry, did you come up with this idea?

What's the purpose?

And Larry said, all Larry could say was a man just can't sit around and do nothing all his life.

See, all Larry was wanting to do was have a little fun.

And he ends up winning the Darwin Award, by the way, of that year of the stupidest human trick or plan for 1998.

And that's Larry's story.

And I hope you have a better plan for having fun.

Because Larry's plan didn't work out so well.

He did survive, though, by the way.

Now, fun is something we're all searching for.

In fact, what we're really searching for is happiness.

But what I want to tell you this morning is that happiness is not the answer to your problems.

Joy is the answer that you're looking for.

And so the first thing I want you to know about joy is that joy and happiness are not the same.

I want you to really catch this this morning, that joy is not the same as happiness.

You see, happiness is dependent upon our circumstances.

Is your mother-in-law coming to visit you this week?

Are my finances in order?

Do my spouse and I, do my wife and I, are we in a complete agreement on every issue?

Does everyone at work love me?

Am I getting along with everyone?

Do I feel good?

All those circumstances have to line up perfectly in order for us to be happy.

See, they're dependent upon circumstances.

Joy is not dependent on your circumstances.

Joy is constant because our source of joy is always constant.

I want you to look at a couple of scriptures and I want you to catch this morning that it is possible to have joy no matter what's going on in your life.

No matter if you're walking through the darkest, deepest hurt of your life right now, if you're going through the most painful experience of your entire life, it is possible to live with God's perfect joy in your life.

Do you believe that?

I want to show you this.

First of all, in James chapter 1, verse 2.

James 1:2

It says, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

This is really one of my least favorite scriptures in the Bible.

Because you get tested with this, right?

I mean, it's it according to this scripture, when you're facing the deepest test of your life, you are supposed to consider it beforehand as pure joy.

That seems impossible.

And to someone who reads that for the first time, that's an impossible thing to grasp and get a hold of.

Philippians 4.4 says, always, always be full of joy in the Lord.

And I say it again, rejoice.

You see, the reason most people never experience joy is because they're chasing after a mirage of happiness.

You know, mirages, you ever see those movies where someone's crawling through the desert and they think they're crawling toward water and they get there and it's just another pile of sand and they keep crawling, they keep chasing something that's not real?

You see, the world says that if you want happiness, maybe you need another relationship.

And so you go from one relationship to another, from one house to another, from one job to another, from one hobby to another.

You keep chasing after something, and every time you get it, every time you get that next promotion, every time you get into the next tax bracket, every time you find supposedly the perfect next relationship, suddenly you find out that it was all a mirage.

You know, I've just determined already in my life at 38 years old that my the Holy Spirit is a better master of my life and my flesh.

I believe that the Holy Spirit is a much better master of my life and your life than our flesh is.

My flesh has never led me to happiness.

The desires of my flesh only lead me to more desires for my flesh.

They only cause my flesh to increase.

They don't cause me to be happy.

When I found Jesus, I found the source of all joy.

And the first thing we have to understand as believers is that joy and happiness are not the same.

And here's the second thing I want you to remember about joy is that joy is the antidote for depression.

You see, Larry was depressed when he got in that chair that day, inspiration one.

Larry was going through deep depression.

But he was chasing after happiness.

He felt like the air flight that if he could just become a pilot, even of a well-planned scheme, that he could somehow get into the air, that that would cause him to be happy.

It didn't cause him to be happy.

In fact, just a few years later, Larry killed himself.

Larry was a victim of suicide because he fell into deep depression.

That's the end of that story.

And Larry was looking for something that we're all looking for, but he fell into depression.

You see, I'm not here today to I have about six minutes to spend on this point.

And in six minutes, I cannot give you a full detailed answer to how to overcome depression, but I'm going to give you a key this morning.

I'm not here to make depression seem trite or simple.

Depression is a terrible, terrible disease.

In fact, right now in America, 38 million people have been diagnosed with clinical depression.

It's one of the most common illnesses in the world right now.

According to the World Health Organization, depression causes more disabilities than any other condition.

It's the second leading cause of disease and hospitalization right now, second only to heart disease.

Depression is rampant.

And that, by the way, that 38 million number does not include the millions of people who are depressed but simply won't go to the doctor and get diagnosed.

Most of those are men, by the way, because we don't go to the hospital for anything.

We can have a large tumor on our side and we think, oh, it'll go away, I'll just get some rest tomorrow.

We don't go to the hospital for anything.

So that didn't include the millions of people who've not even been diagnosed with depression.

Most medical experts agree that there's simply no cure for depression.

There is no cure right now.

But I believe there's a source for our cure.

And I want to show you two scriptures.

I believe the Lord gave me just one key thing.

And if you're here today with a heavy heart, if you're here today and you've been diagnosed with depression, I'm going to give you one key.

This is not a cure all answer.

That's not what I'm trying to do this morning.

What I'm trying to do is give you some hope.

And I'm going to show you this morning where you can go for some hope.

And it's found in Isaiah 61, verse 2.

Isaiah 61:2

And it says to all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, and praise instead of despair.

For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.

According to this scripture, I was born to worship.

My purpose in my life was to worship the Lord with all of my heart.

But yet what I've understood in my life is that depression and worship cannot coexist together.

I've discovered it as I've grown older that I can't be depressed and worship at the same time.

That the attack of the enemy with depression in my life keeps me from worshiping.

However, we have to worship regardless of our circumstances.

According to this scripture, I'm a strong and graceful oak that God Himself has planted.

My wife and I, we grew up in Louisiana and we were there this past weekend, and this is a great time of year to go back to that part of the country because they have big magnolia trees that are in full bloom right now.

And a magnolia tree takes years and years.

It's a very slow-growing tree, but if it ever takes root, if a magnolia tree ever catches root somewhere, it'll grow for two or three hundred years and it becomes this huge tree.

And these big white blooms open up this time of year and they're beautiful all over the state.

You see, God planted those trees the way He's planted you and I.

When you came into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, he planted you like a strong and graceful oak.

Your roots go down way deep.

And a couple of bad winters and a couple of hot summers won't kill a real strong, graceful oak.

It won't kill a big, strong magnolia tree.

The deep dark days of your life will not uproot you because I'm a strong, graceful oak that God has planted.

That's why I can have joy for mourning.

That's why I can have a garment of praise instead of a garment of despair, regardless of the circumstances that are happening in my life.

Psalms 40 verse 2, I want you to see this distinction between worship and depression and how depression is broken through worship.

Psalms 40:2

In Psalms 40, verse 2, it says, He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.

Psalms 40:2

He set my feet on solid ground, and he steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing, and I want you to underline that in your Bible.

He's given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.

And many will see what he has done and be astounded, and they will put their trust in the Lord.

Now, if you came this morning with a heavy heart, you're in a good place today, because in just a few minutes we're going to call for our altar ministry team and they're going to pray for you.

Last night, we we prayed for people literally an hour after the service last night.

This, this, you are here today by divine appointment.

God is going to give you more hope today than you've ever had.

If you're suffering with depression, if you came here with a heavy heart, the Lord's here today to put his hand upon you, and he's about to give you a new song to sing.

And here's the song that you're going to sing.

You're going to begin to declare who God is in your life.

You see, one of the things that can tell, one of the ways you can tell if you're being healed of heaviness and depression is that you stop talking about it as your identification.

Now it's okay if you're depressed.

In fact, I want to recommend if you're depressed, you need to go tell someone and be accountable to someone so they can pray with you and help you.

But as you talk about it, I don't want it to become a part of your identification.

It's not who you are.

It's what you're going through.

It's what you're suffering with, but it's not who you are.

You see, I'm a strong and graceful oak.

I have a new song to sing.

I am redeemed.

I am a child of God.

I'm a full heir.

I'm an heir of Jesus Christ.

I have all the benefits that Jesus has right now.

I have the rich deposit of the Holy Spirit.

I have the Word of God that's a sharp, two-edged sword at my disposal.

I have the shield of faith.

I have the helmet of salvation.

That's who I am.

I've been sentenced to heaven and I can't get out of it.

That's who you are this morning.

I may be going through a darkened time in my life.

I may be suffering with depression right now, but that's not who I am.

I'll tell you who I am.

That's the new song that I want the Lord to give you this morning.

I want you to really catch that.

The Lord wants to give you a new song, and out of that new song, you will begin to worship, you will begin to cry out to the Lord.

The Holy Spirit will come, he will invade your life, and I promise you, worship and depression cannot coexist in your life.

Depression will leave when you begin to worship.

And your family and friends will be astounded at the changes in your life, and many will see and fear the Lord.

Isn't that good news?

Here's the third thing: that joy comes from serving people.

There's a great scripture in Proverbs chapter 11 that I love this verse.

Proverbs 11 · chapter mention

It says, the generous prosper and are satisfied, and those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

That's the scripture that I quote, I memorize it, because I believe that's true.

I believe the reason many people are not refreshed, that they're walking around with a heavy heart, is because they're full of themselves and they've not emptied themselves on behalf of other people.

That we're caught up in an orbit.

You know, for hundreds and thousands of years, all the scientists, all the leading scientists on the earth felt that the earth was the center of the universe, that all other planets, all the sun, everything rotated around the earth.

Why would they not believe that?

I mean, we live here, right?

Obviously, we're the center of the universe.

I've come today to tell you the honest truth.

You and I, and all our concerns, and all our problems, we are not the center of the universe.

And we need to stop waiting around for everyone to get caught up in our orbit.

We are not the center of the universe.

This is not about me.

This is not my world that I've just allowed you to live in.

The Bible says that if you want to be refreshed, if you want the Spirit of God to live in you, give your life away to other people.

Hours before Jesus went to the cross.

And by the way, Hebrews 12, 2 says that for the joy set before him, Jesus went to the cross.

So if Jesus had joy as he was headed to the cross, to the most torturous death, the murder that he was about to go through, if Jesus could have joy, then I want that joy.

And in John chapter 15, he's talking to his disciples hours before he's about to go to that death.

John 15 · chapter mention

And he gives them some final words.

And he says in verse 9, I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.

Remain in my love.

And when you obey me, you remain in my love just as I obey my Father and remain in his love.

And I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy.

Yes, your joy will overflow.

Now, listen to the next scripture because it tells us how we get this joy.

Number one, the first part is to remain in his love and to obey his commandments, to be a devoted follower of Jesus.

But then he gives us part two.

Now, this is, by the way, the great commandment.

Love the God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

Can you see how Jesus is repeating this now in this next scripture?

He says, I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you.

And here is how to measure it.

The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.

Laying down your life for other people.

Let me give you some practical ways of doing this.

The next time you meet someone that you've never met, I want you to learn, I want you to ask them 15 questions about them and refuse to talk about yourself.

Now, if they ask you a question about yourself, politely answer, but turn the attention back toward them.

Let them brag on their children's report cards.

Let them pull out the pictures of their grandchildren.

Ask them, how can I pray for you?

What's God saying to you?

What can I do for you?

Turn your attention to them.

Empty yourself.

Now here's the guarantee: if you will empty yourself on behalf of other people, you will never, ever, ever have to pray again for the Holy Spirit to fill you with any of his gifts.

In fact, you need to stop praying for more of the Holy Spirit and start praying for more of compassion, more compassion for other people.

If you will empty yourself on behalf of other people, the Holy Spirit will come automatically and fill you so full of his power, of his gifts, of his revelation, of his understanding.

You will be so full of the Holy Spirit.

When you empty yourself of yourself, the Holy Spirit will come and fill up the void.

All the Holy Spirit is wanting this morning is a few volunteers to give their lives away on behalf of other people.

If you'll volunteer this morning to give your life away and quit living for yourself and your own desires, I promise you, you will be a well spring of the Holy Spirit, overflowing all the time.

That's a guarantee.

I believe that self-absorbed, self-centered, selfish people cannot experience the joy of the Holy Spirit.

When all of our attention and all of our thoughts are upon ourselves, the Holy Spirit cannot compete with that.

And if the Holy Spirit's not there, joy is not present.

Which brings me to my fourth point.

Joy is a free gift from God.

And that is good news this morning.

Joy is a free gift, just like salvation was a free gift, just like healing is a free gift, joy is a free deposit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 16 says, And what union can there be between God's temple and idols?

2 Corinthians 6:16

For we are the temple of the living God.

Now the church that I grew up in was built with some leftover wood from Noah's Ark.

I'm convinced of that.

How many of you grew up in a church that was built with some of that same wood?

I was there about seven times a week.

Almost, literally, I was at church all the time, and it always smelled the same.

And I was wondering growing up, if I'm going to be here all the time, maybe we should invest in some Lysol or some nice candles.

Because it smells the same.

It was an old building, and I'm grateful for what God did in my life there, but it needed some renovation.

And I'm going to raise some money to renew.

I drove by it just recently.

I'm going to renovate that thing.

It still looks the same.

There's cars there every day, like I was there every day.

The fact is, though, in August of 1988, when I gave my life to Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved into my life, I needed some renovation too.

I'll tell you something, the Holy Spirit, when he comes into your life, is not going to let you stay the same.

That's good news, too, by the way.

I don't know about you, but when I was 21 years old and born again, I was messed up.

I was full of everything that I needed to be cleansed.

The Holy Spirit's not used to living in sin-diseased surroundings.

The Holy Spirit's used to living in perfect, sinless surroundings.

And when he moved into my life, he began to change every part of me.

He began to renovate me.

According to Galatians 5, verse 22, it says, When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us.

Galatians 5:22

Now there are two key words in that first part of that scripture.

The first word is controls.

That's how you know, by the way, if you're born again.

Being born again is not a religious experience.

It's not coming down front and signing a card.

It's not coming down front and praying with someone.

Being born again means that I'm no longer the boss.

That the Holy Spirit now controls my life.

Now, don't get offended if you have this bumper sticker on the back of your car, but this is one of my least favorite of all religious bumper stickers, which by the way, I have a never mind.

Okay.

I don't want to get into that.

But this is my least favorite.

God is my co-pilot.

I don't really care for that one because I don't want my hands anywhere near the steering wheel.

I don't even want to be a co-pilot.

I want to be in the back seat with my tray table stowed up, my luggage.

Overhead and I'm reclining.

I want God to pilot my life.

I don't want to be the co-pilot.

Every time I become the co-pilot, that's when things get really messed up.

I want the Holy Spirit, according to Galatians 5, to control my life because when he controls my life, now here's the other key word.

I'll get this kind of fruit.

The word this means that I get all of them.

I can't pick and choose which part of those fruit baskets that I want in my life.

I get all of that.

And it says that I'll get this: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control, gentleness and self-control.

And here there is no conflict with the law.

This morning I want you to stop asking what makes you happy.

Stop asking that question, what makes me happy?

I deserve to be happy, so I need to find out what makes me happy.

Because I'm telling you, the answer you get will be from your flesh and not from God's spirit.

Stop asking that question.

God never promised you happiness.

God promised you persecution.

God promised you that everyone around you would despise you.

God promised you hard and difficult times if you follow after Him.

That He also promised this.

In the midst of your greatest trials, in the midst of your darkest days, my joy will be with you.

My spirit will be with you.

I will send you friends.

If you give up friends and family to follow me, I will replace them with friends and family.

I will fill you with the Holy Spirit.

I will give you my word.

And greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world.

That's what he promised.

He promised me love.

He promised me joy.

He promised me peace.

He promised that I would have self-control, that I would have gentleness.

That's what he promised me.

And so here's the question we should be asking.

What areas of my life are not controlled by the Holy Spirit?

Stop asking what makes you happy.

And start asking this question.

Lord, show me the areas of my life that are not controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Lord, what part of my life are you not controlling this morning?

And I promise you, that's a dangerous question to ask.

You know why?

Because you will get an answer.

If you want to hear God this morning, ask that question.

If you've had a hard time hearing God lately, close your eyes in just a few minutes and ask the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, what areas of my life are not being controlled by the Holy Spirit?

I can guarantee you'll get an answer this morning.

And it'll be a gracious answer.

Because he wants to renovate our hearts.

And when we give up the areas of our life that are not being controlled by the Holy Spirit, he will come and fill them with abundant supernatural joy.

The word rejoice simply means to return to the source of your joy.

The word rejoice means to return to the source of your joy.

I want you to look at Psalms 43 as we close this morning.

It says, send out your light and your truth, and let them guide me.

Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.

And there I'll go to the altar of God, to God, the source of all my joy.

This morning I'm so grateful that you're here.

If you're here this morning with a heavy heart, if you're here this morning and you're going through the darkest days of your life, last night in the service, Jeff and I, Pastor Jeff and I were on stage and we looked across and we saw this young couple that had just lost a baby at birth.

And I knew what I was preaching on.

I'm so grateful.

What I'm preaching is truth.

And I saw joy on them.

This is real.

What I'm telling you is real.

What I'm telling you will change your life.

What I'm telling you is if you'll embrace what I'm saying, you will never ever live your life without joy again.

I saw something on their lives.

I'm so proud of them.

I'm so grateful for God being true to his word.

Joy is yours this morning if you want it.

I want it.

I need it.

I can't live my life without it.

All I'm asking you this morning is to consider.

Where you are, where are you right now?

Is your life being controlled by the Holy Spirit?

Because if he'll take control this morning, he'll come and fill you with all those things that you need.

Will you just pray with me this morning?

Just close your eyes.

And I want you to ask that question that I ask you to ask, Lord Jesus, is there any area of my life that's not being controlled by the Holy Spirit?

Because he wants to come this morning and fill you completely.

He wants to fill the emptiness in your heart, the void that's in your heart.

Lord, I thank you this morning for your word.

Lord, I'm so thankful for your love this morning.

Lord, I'm thankful this morning that you have searched the depths of our heart and you love us the same.

Lord, you know everything about me.

You know everything about every person in this room, and yet you are so in love with us.

You can't get enough of us.

You are infatuated with us.

Despite the things that you see in our heart.

And so, Lord, this morning, because I know how you're going to respond, Lord, I know you're going to love me.

I know you're going to embrace me.

I know you're going to give me your grace.

I know your mercy will come.

So, Lord, this morning, I willingly choose to open my heart to you this morning.

Lord, come and control every part of me.

And I pray that as every any man, any woman, any teenager, any child in this room this morning, if they're suffering from depression or heaviness, I pray right now in Jesus' name that you would come and lift their head and fill them with your joy.

In Jesus' name.